I disagree. Podkolzin is primarily a shooter. I have not read a scouting report on Podkolzin mentioning that he can be too unselfish at times and preferred to pass instead of shoot. I have, however, read the opposite.
There's a difference between being a good playmaker and being a playmaking forward on a line. Podkolzin may be the former but that doesn't make him the latter. Brock Boeser is a good playmaker but he's more sniper than playmaker.
From what I have seen of Podkolzin, I don't see him as a player who is constantly looking to set up his teammates. I think he looks for his own shot but when it isn't there he is capable of finding his teammates.
Well agree to disagree, I am quite surprised there's people who think this to be honest, I would be curious how many people think he is primarily a shooter, would be interested in seeing a poll because that's quite confusing. He likes his one goto offensive move that is selfish and I believe that's what people are commenting on, he uses it a couple times a game, especially when nothing is being generated and he wants to take something into his own hands because he knows he has the skillset to be able to get the puck to the net. A chance is a chance. But otherwise, when he's in the offensive zone and has other teammates there, I don't even see him calculating any way to get the puck in the net, the tunnel vision kicks in and he thinks, okay who do i pass to to set up. Its especially painful on the PP, he always parks himself near the net but never in a way to be the one to whack in the rebound (always back to the goalie), or retrieve the rebound, it's always to screen so somebody else can get the goal, or behind the net to pass to somebody else, or he's QBing the PP from the half wall (closer to the boards) and solely looking to pass. Hes never ever positioned in a way to shoot the puck.
When his linemates get offensive pressure, podkolzin only finds open ice to continue the passing play, he doesn't position himself in shooting spots. He doesn't pass off and goto get the puck back to shoot. He honestly reminds me of the sedins once in the offensive zone with his board work and looking to pass off and not interested at all on being the one to finish off a play. What he does when he is on a rush play doesn't really matter because honestly, the best thing to do is shoot, so it's good that he does. You would expect any skilled player to at lower levels. I would imagine he will be passing off on those rush plays in the NHL because his shot won't be beating any NHL goalie. Also I dont expect his game to be scoring off the rush, theyre going to utilize his board play, which is where you're going to see him dish off to a scoring center/winger, which is what he's been doing.
Even if I agreed with your statement, the fact would still remain that his goal scoring vision & shot is poor and his passing vision is actually quite good, so in the NHL, it is hard to imagine he won't play to his strengths with better finishers. It's unlikely he gets a pretty good shot and its very likely that his linemates will be able to finish off his strong rushes to the net, the way he likes to park behind the net and the way he drive the play. His two way play to take pucks away, this leads to assists. Not goals. So if he wanted to succeed and he didn't suddenly come out with a great shot suddenly (kesler style), then he would infact be a playmaking winger and the more he realizes this is his strength, the stronger that skill of his gets and the more he leans into it going forward
Obviously everything changes if he works on his shot to a point where he's now capable of goal scoring and changes his game a bit to reflect that
Either way I am very curious where his game goes because he's quite capable of going in several directions depending on where he grows his game the most
